Of bidding farewell; a 33 year old presidency and ANC's future

The news has been awash with death these last couple of weeks...In my own family, the darling daada passed on...he was old and he loved Jesus, so, he really did go home.
His laughter and general good cheer will be missed dearly but he leaves behind fond memories which we will hold on to.

In the US of A, many families, 26, to be precise had to deal with very difficult goodbyes after a guy walked into a kindergarten and sprayed bullets on children and their teachers before turning the gun on himself. USA should, honestly, deal with amending their gun laws a.s.a.p. The repeat gun massacres in different parts of the country year after year defeat all the talk about the 2nd amendment. This amendment was passed almost 200 years ago when there was some need for people to arm themselves as territories were captured taken and bandits were the norm if one had to travel more than 10km away from his home. How it continues to be the basis on which all and sundry can own whatever type of gun on the market beats me. How many tragedies will it take for some change to come?

The Hon. Cerinah Nebanda, a well-loved member of parliament who has in the last year or so been particularly vocal about transparency and accountability despite her ruling party membership also met her end. In her case, the mystery surrounding her death only makes the sense of loss worse. There are accusations and counter accusations. Conspiracy theories abound. It is simply a sad, sad business. I knew her quite personally because of my work with parliament where oil and gas is concerned and I cannot for the life of me accept the claims that she was a drug pusher who met what end was coming to her anyway :(

H.E. Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea has been the small oil rich nation's president for 33 years. He allowed a rare, unprecedented interview with the BBC world news programme; HardTalk and as I listened to him, I felt a deep sadness engulf me. He sounded like our dear revolutionary president with talk of; 'I have, only, been in power for so long because the people want me to be. I cannot deny the people a leader when they give me the mandate'...I almost burst into tears just listening to him go on :( As it turns out, the two are close buddies and Mr. Obiang has been over here to visit and no doubt whisper 'wise' words of how to control oil money.
His son, the former Minister of Agriculture & Forestry (timber happens to be the second largest export earner of this nation), recently had his property worth over 500m Euros frozen in France. President Obiang when asked about this and the suggestions it makes about how resources and revenues are handled by his government, said his son is being witch hunted by the West, that he has been a business man for many years and has thus made his money honestly. God have mercy on Africa!

We all know Jacob Zuma, this guy Cyril gets to take centre stage here :)

Then, the largest economy in Africa voted the leadership of its ruling party the African National Congress (ANC). There was an arrest made of some people who had planned to plant a bomb in the arena where the elections were to take place. South Africa has been racked with miners' riots as black South Africans push for better pay and general conditions of work in mines owned and run by huge international mining companies. Jacob Zuma took the presidency of the party and his deputy will be Cyril Ramaphosa- a former politician turned business man and now politician again. He happens to be the second richest black South African. For a long time arguments have been had that South Africa is only at the level of development it is because of the firm grip that white South Africans have had on the economy even though political leadership was handed over to the blacks in 1994. Recent issues in the ANC have not served the party well and have made the gainsayers seem like they are right. We wait to see what the new leadership offers the country leading up to the national elections.

I did promise in an earlier post to keep y'all abreast about my 'cupid adventures'. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, I am more 'googoo eyed' everyday- he put something in my coffee I tell you :) Anyway, as the year comes to a close and another rolls in, I wait to see how things turn out on that front.

A sobering post, yes?...only serious matters today. I needed to document my thoughts on things going on around me...it turns out am not growing any younger and keeping record is becoming more attractive :)